A Sèvres portrait plate circa 1841

Estimate

1,000 - 1,500 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

printed Sèvres mark in blue, dated 1841, the cameo portrait initialled 'M', the reverse with 'M' or 'W' in gold, incised D 20-10
24cm., 9½in.

decorated with a portait of Pierre Simon marquis de Laplace (1749-1827) en profil in a cameo trompe l'oeil on a red ground with his name in white script within an elaborate formal gilt border, the rim with trailing floral branches against a pale-blue ground, the reverse with a title in black Laplace (Pierre Simon Marquis de) Géomêtre né à Beaumont-en-Auge, 1749 (d'ap: la méd: de Caunois).

Catalogue Note

Pierre-Simon Marquis de Laplace was a French mathematician and astronomer who put the final capstone on mathematical astronomy by summarizing and extending the work of his predecessors in his five volume Mécanique Céleste (Celestial Mechanics). This masterpiece translated the geometrical study of classical mechanics used by Isaac Newton to one based on calculus, known as physical mechanics.